Places Of Memory
by mangaluva
Summary: A short series of four disconnected but fluffy oneshots about the four main teen couples, all dedicated to the birthdays of people close to me except the first, which is for Hakuba Saguru XD Happy Birthday Sa-chan, Oyaji, Pretz-chan and Lolly-chan!
1. Saguru x Akako

Saguru wandered down the road, nose buried in a book- the _Hound Of The Baskervilles_. He was only halfway through and his mind was already tallying everything up and drawing conclusions. He was suspicious of that marsh. The butterfly collector was the only one who knew it well enough to use it…

He glanced up quickly as he approached the crosswalk, and the second he saw the green man still glowing, returned his attention to his book. What he didn't notice was that a couple of seconds after he looked away, the man changed to red…

The car was speeding a little as it came around the corner. The driver was arguing with the person in the passenger side, paying no attention to the road, only glancing at the lights to check that they were green for a split second, as Saguru had. Neither the driver nor Saguru noticed that they were on a collision course.

"Look out! Little boy! Move!"

Someone on the pavement had noticed, and Saguru glanced up, to see the car bearing down on him-

Suddenly he was yanked aside, back to the pavement, someone lifting him right off the ground with abnormal strength and speed- Saguru was tall for nine, too tall to life easily any more- and he felt the car whizz past his toes as he fell backwards, onto the pavement, somebody still gripping him tightly. From the soft feeling of the chest he was being held against and the long hair tickling the back of his neck, it must be a woman, some still-logical part of his mind concluded while the rest of it was gibbering a little and staring at the shredded remnants of his book in the road, where he had dropped it while being pulled away from the car.

"Pay attention, silly boy," a woman's voice- definitely a woman's- hissed in his ear. "That could have been you." Then they let him go.

He struggled to stand up, looking around for his saviour, but he had already been surrounded by a ring of concerned adults and a group of middle-school girls, fussing over him and asking if he was alright. He could not determine which, if any of them, had saved his life.

Nine years later, he hadn't changed much. The only difference was that it was a real-life murder that he was absorbed in.

"_His son certainly has a powerful motive, but he was talking to me at the time… It was his brother next to him, but no prints on the knife, and the man didn't have gloves… Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. What if there was an accomplice?_"

Normally, he was very strict about road safety, as he was about just about everything, but he was too absorbed in thoughts of justice to pay too much attention now. He stepped out into the road after a flash of green, striding across after a crowd of grade-schoolers, not bothering to look at the cars, because what cars run a red light with little kids in the road?

One containing somebody who's already killed once.

Some sense of danger made him look up, to see the 4x4 bearing down on him. He ran forwards to yell at the kids to move, and they ran, just far enough out of the car's path to get away easily, but Saguru had no time to run himself, it was too close, and he looked into the driver's eyes…

…_so it _was_ the brother…_

Then hands, small but strong, wrapped around his arms, pulling him out of the way with surprising strength and speed, making him seem to fly across the road, landing heavily on the pavement. Once more, paper fluttered into the air as his notebook was shredded…

"You never learn, do you?"

The hands let go of his arm, but some old sense of déjà vu made him reach out, grabbing her hands before he'd even heard her speak, stopping her from vanishing this time. He turned to a pair of familiar red eyes…

"Koizumi-san," he muttered in surprise. "Long time no see."

"And yet you haven't changed," she huffed, plucking a piece of paper from the air.

"Look who's talking," he said. Hadn't she been an adult back then, too….?

"Well, I suppose I ought to thank you for saving my life," he said pleasantly. "Twice."

"If you really want to thank me," she half-yawned. "You'll pay. I suppose I'm not the only one dozy enough to need coffee right now…"

"It's the least I can do," he said, standing and pulling her to her feet as well as people milled around, muttering and staring at the road down which the car had vanished. Saguru knew who the murderer was; but for once, he felt no desire to chase him straight away.

For some reason, something seemed more attractive than chasing a murderer. Who would have thought it would be coffee with Koizumi-san?

_This is the first of a series of four fluffy little oneshots, all dedicated to people's birthdays. This first one is, in fact, for Hakuba Saguru himself. It's August 29__th__- Happy Birthday, Sa-chan! ^_-_


	2. Shinichi x Ran

Ran wandered desolately through the crowds of happy daytrippers and holidaymakers. She wondered why she had accepted Sonoko's suggestion of a day in Tropical Land with friends. She felt no less lonely; Conan-kun had returned to America, and she hadn't heard from Shinichi in the longest time. She hadn't even been able to bring herself to join in the animated conversation about the explosions in Tokyo Bay; it seemed that there had been underground and partially underwater bunkers there, though who and what had been in them had not been released to the public yet.

It didn't matter. Nothing seemed to, recently; whenever she heard something, she wanted to talk about it with Conan or Shinichi; she missed both of them so much. Conan's absence made Shinichi's even sharper- without either, she just felt so _lonely_.

Ai-chan had left, too. The Shonen Tantei-Dan had been very upset about losing nearly half of their members, but they'd cheer up in no time. Children that age bounced back so quickly from loss.

Ran couldn't. She couldn't help feeling so alone, even in such crowds as she was in now.

She wandered down to the little courtyard, standing in the middle. Why had Shinichi shown her this? He wasn't really the type to go for fountains and rainbows himself, she knew. And it wasn't a publicized feature of Tropical Land; just a little surprise. Had he sought it out especially for her?

She couldn't know. She couldn't ask him. He was gone.

The fountains shot up around her, and as they did someone came hurtling down the steps. They burst through the innermost wall of water as it shot up, spraying water everywhere. Ran shrieked as he shook water off like a wet dog.

"Sorry, sorry," he gasped. Ran froze, staring at the man in shock. That voice... was it...

"Shinichi?" she said softly, as if saying his name would cause him to vanish, like a mirage. He straightened up, looking down at her, his sparkling sapphire stare piercing into her.

"Ran," he said. Then he reached out and hugged her.

Ran leaned against his chest, feeling her knees give way. She couldn't believe it. "You're... _here_...?" she whispered.

"I am," he said quietly. She shivered as his breath brushed her ear. "And this time I don't intend to leave ever again. This time, Ran, I swear... I'm not leaving you. It's all over now."

Ran pulled back, staring up at him, searching for any hint of a lie. It was then that she first noticed the long scar across one cheek, still looking rather raw.

"What happened?" she asked, reaching out to touch the scar. He winced a little. It wasn't just the scar; it had been well over a year since she had seen him last. They were nineteen now, graduated (though she wondered how Shinichi had managed that with his absence rate); Shinichi was taller again, no longer a gangly teen but a man, strong arms still wrapped around her...

"I told you it was a big case I was on," he said sadly, reaching up to catch her hand. "If finally ended last week at Tokyo Bay."

"Tokyo Bay- those _explosions_-?!" Ran gasped.

"This is the worst of it, I promise," he said, indicating the scar. "But it's all over now. It's a long story..."

"If it's all over, then we have our whole lives for you to tell that story," Ran said with a smile. "I missed you so much..."

"I missed you too," he said, his voice suddenly choked. "Every day..." Then he leaned down and kissed her.

Ran didn't notice if there was a rainbow over them this time; the fireworks between her and Shinichi shone every colour that there could have been and more. They didn't even notice when the fountains ended.

_5/09/09- Happy *censored*th birthday, Dad! This fluffshot is shorter than the others, but it doesn't matter since he doesn't like manga anyway XDXD_


	3. Heiji x Kazuha

Kazuha kicked a pebble aside vindictively as she wandered down the streets of Kyoto. Of all the stereotypical class trip destinations her senior year had to choose from, they'd chosen Kyoto?

She was half-heartedly looking for Heiji. He'd wandered off on his own a while ago, and Kazuha knew where he'd gone. He'd probably gone to the shrine where he'd seen his first love. He always did whenever he was in Kyoto, probably hoping she'd return. Kazuha snorted, kicking another pebble. Well, he could drop the romantic delusions. If he didn't get back soon, sensei was gonna be _pissed_. Not that she cared, anyway. Let the baka get reamed out for chasing some other girl. She didn't care. She _didn't_.

She paused as a few sakura petals floated past her. She looked around, and realized that she was standing next to the open gate into the courtyard of some temple.

"_Hey... this is the temple I used to play in when I was little, wasn't it?_" she remembered, wandering over to the huge old Sakura tree, running her hands over its worn old bark. It was like an old friend to her...

"_Marutake Ebisu Ni Ochi Oike..._" she sang softly, remembering the song that her cousins had taught her.

"I knew ya'd be back someday."

Kazuha squeaked a little in surprise as she whipped around, wondering how Heiji had crept up without her noticing him. He was standing not far away, hands in pockets, wearing the gentlest smile she'd seen on him in a long time.

"H-Heiji?" she stammered. "Whaddya mean?"

"Didn't I ever tell ya exactly what happened that day?" Heiji asked, slowly walking over to her. "It was at this temple I saw her. She was wearin' a little red kimono, an' she was all dressed up, hair done up, makeup an' all... I thought she musta been older..."

"What?" Kazuha asked, stepping backwards as Heiji continued towards her, backing up against the tree.

"An' she sang that song," Heiji continued, still walking towards her. "Only she sang it wrong, sayin' "ane-san" instead a' "yome-san"... just like you. An' when ya told me that story about when we were kids, when ya got all dressed up an' came lookin' fer me, I realized..."

"Heiji..." Kazuha began, but her voice died as Heiji reached out, placing his hands either side of her on the thick tree trunk, trapping her there as he leaned over her, his eyes sparkling emeralds.

"The little girl that day... she was _you_," he said quietly. "I thought she'd got away from me... but here ya were, all this time. Right under my nose. An' I never even realized..."

"It was... me...?" Kazuha whispered. Somehow, she couldn't look away from Heiji, even though the look in his eyes made her knees weak...

"I think it is you," Heiji said, "An' if it is, there's somethin' I've been wantin' ta give you..." Before Kazuha had time to think, he'd leaned down and kissed her.

She couldn't think what to do. The warm press of his lips on hers was almost too much. She reached up, clinging to him for support, inadvertently deepening the kiss- something which didn't really feel like a problem to her, and if the way he kissed her back was any indication, he felt the same way.

He leaned against her, pressing her against the tree trunk, the warm weight of his body a far too pleasant sensation; his hands sliding down to wrap around her, fingers running down her back, trailing shivers down her spine…

"Kazuha-chaaaaan!"

"Hattoriiii!"

"Where the hell are they?"

"I think Kazuha-chan went this way looking for him…"

Heiji broke away, glancing around, but the low-hanging sheet of sakura petals had them mostly covered… still, their feet were visible…

"I forgot," Kazuha groaned, thumping her head back against the worn old tree trunk. "I was lookin' for ya 'cause sensei was tryin' ta round everyone up…"

"Well, sensei can wait a bit," Heiji said, reaching up and grabbing one of the lower branches, hauling himself up. He reached down, taking her hand to pull her up.

"C'mon," he said. "Ya know I won't drop ya."

"Yeah," Kazuha said with a little smile, feeling the strength in his dark arms as he pulled her up next to him. They didn't have to go far to be completely out of sight, hidden behind the pink blossoms. Surrounded by a thick layer of the flowers, their sweet scent filling her nostrils, she felt a little light-headed, as if…

" 'S like a dream, ain't it?" Heiji said, putting an arm around her shoulders and watching the flowers flutter in the breeze. "Like then… the best moments never really feel real."

"Well, if it's a dream…" Kazuha said softly, craning around to look at him, "I'm happy not ta wake up fer a bit." A part of her was already stocking up for an argument about not telling her, letting her feel jealous of the geisha girl, all the little frustrations which the two of them so loved fighting over; but for now, she was content to rest in the peace and happiness of the moment.

That, and he kissed her again, and she'd have to stop to shout at him. And somehow, she just couldn't bring herself to.

_15/09/09- For Pretztailfan95, who is a Heiji fangirl. Happy Birthday Pretz-chan! _


	4. Kaito x Aoko

What was she doing here?

Aoko sat down on the steps on the square across from the clock tower, staring up at its old face. She took off her police cap and ran her hand through her unruly brown locks tiredly.

At twenty, she had joined the Kaitou Kid Task Force under her proud father. He'd been glad to see her getting involved, getting over an ugly breakup. A _very_ ugly breakup. He'd never understood why she suddenly hated Kaito, though he'd taken it to be the reason for the young man's disappearance. Aoko knew that it was just for his night job.

At twenty-one, she had seen her father shot down and realized that there was more to the Kaitou Kid than lighthearted thievery. It was the first time she'd seen Kaito, except on heists, since the year before. Just a dark figure on her windowsill, a quiet whisper of "I'm sorry", and then nothing but roses left at her father's funeral.

And now, at twenty-two, she was sitting under the clock tower again, like she had when she was six, when she was sixteen. This time, there was no father to wait for, no Kid to chase. Both were gone.

It had all ended a month ago. The courts had spent the last couple of weeks going through the members of the crime syndicate that had murdered her father, Kaito's, and so many others, and assigning them sentences ranging from between twenty years and a thousand.

It was all over, and it had left her alone. So somehow, as she always had when she was alone, she'd come here.

The Kaitou Kid had sent out a notice shortly after the mass arrests, proclaiming that as a retirement present to himself, he would be paying a private call to claim a beautiful blue jewel that he'd always coveted, sending every sapphire owner in Tokyo into a panic. But in the month since, he had not been seen. Nobody knew what he was coming for, or when he would come.

Aoko presumed that he was recuperating. He had taken quite a few hits- not that she was worried about him. She was not. She was not. She was-

She was. She _was_. She was so worried about him that she could barely eat or sleep, fearing that he'd died of his injuries, refusing to get them properly treated. She was done lying to herself- she missed him so much. She longed to go back to that horrible night that she'd found out who he was and take back all the horrible things that she'd said, all the hurt she'd tried and managed to cause; wished she'd been bright enough back then to forgive him, to realize that if _Kaito_, of all people, was the Kaitou Kid, he'd have a _hell_ of a good reason...

But she couldn't unsay what she'd said any more than she could bring her father back from the dead. He probably still thought she hated him. He'd vanish overseas with whatever he stole last, and she'd never see or hear from him ever again. She buried her head in her knees, screwing her eyes up against the tears.

"Are you here on your own?"

Her head jerked up. Kaito was sitting next to her, not looking at her but the clock, a blank, serene expression on his face- A Poker Face.

"Yeah," she said, also looking not at him but the clock. "I'm always here alone."

"Do you ever wish you could turn it back?" Kaito said in that same even voice, still staring at the clock. "Undo all the stupid things you did, all the stupid things you said... bring back the people you've lost?"

Aoko swallowed. "Every time I come here. But it can't be done. Old words can't be taken back, no matter how much you hate them. All you can do is push them aside with new words."

"Words like "I'm sorry"," Kaito said softly.

"Yeah," Aoko agreed.

They were both silent for a long moment. Then, at the same moment, they both turned to each other and said "I'm sorry-!"

"_You're_ sorry?!" Aoko gasped. "No, You had your reasons, I shouldn't have said what I said, It was so cruel, I didn't mean it..."

"_You're_ sorry?!" Kaito yelped at the same moment. "Hell, my reasons didn't justify _lying_ to you all the time, I hurt you, I totally understand why you said what you did, I just thought..."

They both trailed off in their babbling, staring at each other. Then Aoko began to giggle, and her laughter was infectious, soon consuming Kaito too until the pair were laughing helplessly in each other's arms. Passersby stared at them incredulously.

"We're both kinda stupid," Kaito pointed out.

"Yeah," Aoko giggled, wiping her eyes. Sobering up, she realized that she and Kaito were holding each other up, and they shuffled apart a little. "So..." she said softly, staring at him, "what now?"

"We start over," Kaito said, popping out a rose. "Aoko... The last two years, without you, have honestly been the worst of my life. It was only bearable because I thought... I thought you were happier without me. So long as I told myself that you were happy, it was bearable. But..." he stared straight into her eyes, something sparkling in the deep blue. "You wouldn't have come here if that was the case, would you? If you'd happily pushed me aside... if I'm making a mistake, tell me now. If you look me in the eye and tell me that you don't want me in your life, then I swear I'll vanish and you'll never hear from me again. But... I don't want to let you go again, Aoko. Be warned..." he held the flower out to her.

"If the blue child is mine," he said softly, "I won't ever return her."

"Kaito..." Aoko said quietly, "I can't."

His eyes immediately shut down, flat, blank, like the rest of his Poker Face.

"I see," he said neutrally. Aoko looked him in the eye and smiled gently.

"I could never tell you that I don't want you in my life," she elaborated softly, reaching out and taking the rose. "I did that once and it was honestly the stupidest thing I've ever done. I could never do it again. I don't want you to leave me again, Kaito. Never again."

Realizing what she meant, Kaito's face slowly lit up with the biggest, most genuine smile she could ever remember seeing from him since- well, quite possibly before Toichi died. That innocent little boy in the blue cap stood before her once more. Then all innocent thoughts left her as he pulled her to him, this time for a kiss, as soft and beautiful as their very first, three years ago- a lifetime by the standards of all that had happened since.

"Gotcha," Kaito whispered. "I'm Kuroba Kaito. Hajimemashite. Are you here alone?"

"Not anymore," Aoko whispered. "Never again."

_Dedicated to my BFF. Happy 17__th__, Ayumi-chan! ^_-_


End file.
